Herb-grilled chicken with herb-yogurt sauce

Since my fish options are limited these days, I am trying to find new and different (and easy) ways to make chicken.

This was a very easy, very tasty option. I started the chicken marinating the night before, so it got close to a full 24 hours in the marinade.

As I was making Tuesday's dinner, I just whipped up the marinade for this and got a head start on Wednesday's meal.

The herb puree-marinade made a nice crust on the chicken when it was grilled, and the herb-yogurt sauce was a cool and tangy contrast.

Herb-grilled chicken with herb-yogurt sauce

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or breast steaks
salt and pepper
1 cup Italian parsley leaves
1/3 cup basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne or other hot pepper
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup Greek yogurt

Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

Puree the parsley, basil, garlic, salt and cayenne until it is a paste.
Blend in olive oil until it is smooth.

Set aside half the herb mixture.

Using the other half of the herb mixture, set the chicken to marinate. Cover and refrigerate. The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours.

Get your grill ready... I used a gas grill set on high to preheat it, then lowered to medium before I put the chicken on to cook.

Cook chicken 7-10 minutes, turning halfway through, until firm to the touch.

Once the chicken is done, remove it from the grill and let rest 10 minutes.

While chicken is resting (or in my case, the night before) mix the yogurt with the herb puree that you had set aside. Sauce will be fine in the fridge overnight.

Serve chicken with sauce.

I made some grilled yellow squash, zucchini and orange peppers with this. I gave the veggies a quick dip in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar before grilling.

For a carb, I brushed some baguette slices with the oil and vinegar and grilled those on each side.

It was a flavorful meal, but still fairly light. And it was sooooo easy.